Friday 17 August 2007

Oil & Gas UK Responds to OCA's Announcement of Agreement on Offshore Holiday Entitlement

In response to today's announcement that the Offshore Contractors' Association (OCA) has reached agreement with Amicus on its 2007 settlement of terms and conditions, Chris Allen, a director at Oil & Gas UK, said: "Oil & Gas UK does not get involved in the negotiation of terms and conditions and therefore played no part in these discussions. Our member companies are free to negotiate individual terms and conditions and they all offer competitive packages.

"Obviously we note that as a result of this negotiation, the cases on leave entitlement brought before the Employment Tribunal by employees of OCA member companies will be dropped. However, other cases not involving OCA still stand and Oil & Gas UK continues to support the UK oil and gas industry's position regarding paid annual leave, which is that the rotas worked already comply with the requirements of Working Time Regulations.

"On a typical equal time rota, such as two weeks offshore and two weeks onshore, there is enough time off to cover every weekend, Bank Holiday and 20 days' leave with more than seven weeks to spare and is therefore more generous than the law requires."

Sally Fraser

Oil & Gas UK Media Relations                   

2nd Floor                                                       

232-242 Vauxhall Bridge Road      

London SW1V 1AU                            

Tel:                 020 7802 2404

Fax:                020 7802 2401

Email:             sfraser@oilandgasuk.co.uk

Pager :           07659 183 999

NOTE TO EDITORS

Oil & Gas UK is the leading representative organisation for the UK offshore oil and gas industry.  Its members are companies licensed by the Government to explore for and produce oil and gas in UK waters and those who form any part of the industry's supply chain.  It has 60 members.